American actor Josh Hartnett turns 33-years-old today. Born in San Francisco, California, he has three younger half-siblings named Jessica, Jack and Joe. He attended Cretin-Derham Hall High School before switching to South High School in Minneapolis, from which he graduated in 1996. Hartnett was active in sports as a child, especially football, and did not entertain the thought of becoming a performer, until an injury left him unable to participate on the athletic playing field. A relative encouraged him to audition for a stage production of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and to his surprise, he won the part of Huckleberry Finn. Now in love with the stage, he went on to star in a slew of high school plays. Hartnett got his first job at a local video store. He also worked at McDonalds and Burger King for a short time before getting his start acting at Youth Performance Company in Minneapolis. After finishing high school, a move to New York to attend the prestigious Conservatory of Theatre Arts and Film at SUNY Purchase did not go as well as he had hoped for, and a year later at age 19, Hartnett found himself in California.
Shortly after arriving in Los Angeles, he caught an improbable break, landing a part in the short-lived but acclaimed drama Cracker, on ABC. "We made 16 episodes of Cracker and I loved doing show, but unfortunately no one was watching us." He had, however, made himself known. He then performed in small plays and on national television commercials before being cast in his first feature film, playing the son of Jamie Lee Curtis' character in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, released in 1998, it performed well at the box office. Hartnett has since developed a steady film career, having appeared in many Hollywood films, including Pearl Harbour (2001), Black Hawk Down (2001), 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), Wicker Park (2004), Sin City (2005), The Wrong Man (2006) and August (2008). "I'm trying to choose scrips by character, " Josh explains. "I'm not so worried about creating a career. I want to create good roles, because I want to be the best actor I can be."
In the early 2000's, Harnett was approached several times to play the role of Clark Kent/Superman in the upcoming film - at the time helmed by Brett Ratner - but always turned it down, not wanting to commit to a predicted ten-year role. More recently, he's starred in Bunraku (2010), Girls Walks Into a Bar (2011) and Stuck Between Station (2011), and is due to appear in the upcoming movies Singularity and Dark Star Hollow. "We're all on a journey," says Josh. "The average American switches professions four times. I'm lucky to be in a business where I can change the character I am playing every couple of months."
Josh became a vegetarian at the age of 12 - though he did eat meat during the shooting of The Black Dahlia for his role as a boxer - and was voted the sexiest vegetarian in the world by PETA in 2003. In 2008, he starred in a campaign for Emporio Armani fragrance, 'Diamonds for Men', being featured in both print and television ads for the fragrance, thus becoming the first male celebrity to represent Giogio Armani Beauty. Josh has also featured on many magazine covers over the years, such as Details, Entertainment Weekly, Vanity Fair, GQ and Vman, in addition to being in other magazines like Vogue, People, Glamour and InStyle. Josh dated his childhood sweetheart until the two decided to go their separate ways, and more recently dated Scarlett Johansson for a couple of years. "I've had my heart broken, and it's not fun," he explains. "But I'd rather have my heart broken then break someone else's heart."
